It's just been a day, or a few days as the case may be, and I have an hundred thoughts going around my head -- none of which will be still long enough for me to put some coherent words together for posting! So, I'll just post some of my random thoughts and hope they make at least a bit of sense.
I'm on the last stage of daughter's last dress (the pink one). Waist seam and four buttons are all that's left. Hopefully it will be done before the weekend!
I've been working on a cute poncho for my younger granddaughter, when it's done I'll get pictures.
Laundry has been my shadow for almost the past week and I'll be glad when the sun can shine freely on my washing machine again! (there's a metaphor in there somewhere, or is it a simile?, but I can't find it right now ;-)
I'm giving my mother a 70th birthday party this June and so that has taken a lot of my thoughts recently. It's been a little more stressful than I thought it would be, but in general all is going well. She finally gave me the guest list which put me into action on making the invitations! This is a rough draft, if you please. It's made with the Roses in Winter set from Stampin' Up!, which is not only beautiful but extremely versatile. This is the design I'll be using - I think I like the color combinations and the weight of the three roses on the bottom. It will be mounted on the blue cardstock at the top.
I've already made the RSVP cards, which are just the opposite of the invitation, almost. I printed them on the green cardstock at the bottom of the picture and mounted them on white cardstock stamped with the roses. When I'm all finished with them, I'll get a photo for posterity!
Our little garden outside is doing well, and not so well. The corn is taking hold and growing, as are the radishes and carrots, in spite of the fact that the dogs think the planter boxes are there for them to practice their hurdle jumps on! My cabbage is coming up beautifully, and the squash and peppers are, too. We need to re-plant the beans, though, and probably the eggplant.
For school, we've been learning about colonial history both for this country and Australia. We read about Jamestown colony today. A few weeks ago, we also borrowed the PBS series Colonial House and Frontier House from the library and had a great time watching them and talking about if we would be able to do that! Colonial would be a bit harsh for me - don't think I could do that. But Frontier House was totally something that we could see ourselves at - even though it would be incredibly hard work from sunrise till sundown. Then as an off-shoot of that, I checked out some books on pioneer/frontier history. They are all letters written by women of the time, to friends and family, describing their experiences. I've started one and I'm looking forward to reading the others as well. Here are some of the books I've discovered: Letters of a Woman Homesteader, Apron Full of Gold, Covered Wagon Women (a Series of 9 books), and Bachelor Bess. On a side note: we've been trying to do without lights in the evening at least a few times a week. As the sun goes down, we get out the candles and will have dinner or do chores, or read by candlelight. It's amazing even to the children that after a while they feel tired and ready for bed. We're all learning how the artificial time created by electric lights really affects us. If the lights are on and we stay busy, it can be 10:00 pm or later before anyone thinks of bed, but with the candles glowing we're all ready to get in bed before 9:00pm! It's pretty interesting.
Here's a picture of sweet little baby K that I made the blanket for. My niece sent it today, along with some great pictures taken with K's big brother! Isn't she irresistible?
I experimented this morning with our breakfast. I had lots of ripe bananas to use and was planning on Banana Bread, but have been having a hankering for Pumpkin Bread. What to do? Combine them of course! I compared the recipes and ended up doubling the Banana Bread recipe, except instead of using more bananas, I added an equal amount of pumpkin! There were some cranberries in the cupboard so they went in -- and husband doesn't think it's really a quick bread without nuts - in they went, too! What did we end up with? The most delicious Banana Pumpkin Cranberry Nut Bread!! Really! We all agreed that it was excellent - not too banana-y and not too pumkin-ny, either. The perfect blending of the two.
I think I've just gone over my allotted time --
Oh!! But I did want to point your attention up to the list on the right of Posts I've Enjoyed from other blogs. If you have a few minutes, check out some great writing and tips - at least ones that I found helpful for my own life.
May you be blessed today!
